43 Daytona Beach News-Journal employees lose their jobs as newspaper continues looking for a buyer
Posted Mon, 2009-09-14 23:41
DAYTONA BEACH -- Forty-three employees of the Daytona Beach News-Journal lost their jobs earlier today, according to several sources.
Of the 43 cuts, 16 were in the newsroom and nine were unionized pressmen. The others were from various other departments.
Executive Editor Don Lindley informed the terminated employees in an e-mail and then left for the day at 4 p.m. without facing any of those whose jobs were cut, according to an inside source.
One of two terminated newsroom reporters is a single mother with a baby, whose recent beat was the city of Deltona. A sports columnist who has written a popular column for more than a decade was terminated as was a longtime photographer, a librarian, a longtime regional editor a page designer in Accent and a page designer on the news desk. Several others in the newsroom were offered and took buyouts, including the senior managing editor Troy Moore, whose last day was Saturday.
Just four years ago, the News-Journal employed more than 800 people and had a daily circulation that hovered around 100,000, but after losing a series of appeals of the $129 million federal court judgment awarded to minority owner Cox Enterprises, the News-Journal's circulation has plummeted and so has its staff by almost two thirds. The suit was spurred by the late Tippen Davidson's decision to spend $13 million on naming rights without Cox's permission for the $29 million News-Journal Center, a cultural arts Center on Beach Street that is now owned by Daytona State College
The News-Journal has had trouble finding a buyer in this national recession that has wreaked havoc on newspapers across the country, with some offers hovering around $20 million.
The Pennysavers were consolidated earlier this summer and last year the News-Journal closed its bureaus in New Smyrna Beach, DeLand, Deltona and Bunnell.
The former Pennysaver/News-Journal bureau on Canal Street is now the headquarters for the re-election of Mayor Sally Mackay.
About the Blogger
Henry Frederick is editor and publisher of Headline Surfer, Florida's 24/7 Internet newspaper in New Smyrna Beach, launched April 7, 2008. Owned by NSB News LLC with Frederick as its sole corporate member, It is also referred by its original name, NSBNews.net and as VolusiaNews.net. Frederick is an award-winning breaking news and investigative journalist who has covered police and courts in Florida, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, dating back to the mid-1980s. He has covered many of the high profile cases in the Daytona Beach and DeLand courtrooms in Volusia County, including the numerous appellate hearings for serial killer Aileen Wuornos, and ultimately, witnessing her execution. He graduated from Central Connecticut State University in New Britain in 1984, with a B.A. in political science/public admin. and a minor in writing. He received the "President's Citation" for academic honors and service to the university.
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Comments
trajedy
I have never seen a newspaper implode like this one. It was once a wonderful news operation. No longer.
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